


Like, Ten Years Ago

by seasonalstiles



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek Hale Feels, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-19
Updated: 2012-11-19
Packaged: 2017-11-19 02:15:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/567910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasonalstiles/pseuds/seasonalstiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being back in Beacon Hills was every bit as awful as he imagined it would be.  Nothing had changed; everything was in the same spot.  The town was exactly as it was when he had left it.  And just like he expected, the memories came flooding back without any time to prepare.</p><p>He would have preferred it if all of Beacon Hills had undergone some serious reconstruction in his time away.  Every building was just another memory that he had to deal with, a reminder of happier times that never should have ended.</p><p>But he wasn’t there to struggle with his past.  He was there to find the only person who could possibly make this place feel like home again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like, Ten Years Ago

**Author's Note:**

> My contest entry, which I originally posted on tumblr. But now that I have this account I figured it should be the first thing I post.
> 
> Please excuse the rushed ending, as I was working with a deadline that I literally just barely made. I might go back and revise it just for my own amusement at some point in the distant future, but for now it stays as it was when I sent it in.

Being back in Beacon Hills was every bit as awful as he imagined it would be.  Nothing had changed; everything was in the same spot.  The town was exactly as it was when he had left it.  And just like he expected, the memories came flooding back without any time to prepare.

He would have preferred it if all of Beacon Hills had undergone some serious reconstruction in his time away.  Every building was just another memory that he had to deal with, a reminder of happier times that never should have ended.

But he wasn’t there to struggle with his past.  He was there to find the only person who could possibly make this place feel like home again.

  

_“I’m on my way.”_

_Sheriff Stilinski made a sharp U-turn and steered his cruiser towards the woods, flipping on the lights and siren.  It was still early in the day.  He had just dropped his son off at school – late, but hell, that was Stiles – and now the big emergency was a fire going on at the Hales’._

_At least, that’s how the dispatcher had described it.  But when he pulled up to the house – what was left of it, at least – he knew better.  A fire hadn’t just occurred here – it had_ devoured _the place._

_The sheriff didn’t see too much of the Hales, fortunately for them, but he wouldn’t have wished this kind of destruction on anyone.  By some miracle the building was still standing, its basic foundation left intact.  But at this point, you’d have to be crazy to call it a ‘house’ at all._

_Once he had made sure the remaining flames were under control, he checked in with a nearby officer._

_“Any idea what happened?” he asked._

_“Not yet.  Arson investigator’s still waiting for the rest of the fire to be put out before taking a look.”_

_“Oh.”  He paused, eyes darting over to an ambulance that was currently being loaded with a very still body.  There was one more question that needed to be asked, but he never really liked saying it out loud._

_Thankfully, the officer seemed to know what he was thinking.  “He’s the survivor – severely burned, not sure how he’s gonna make out, but he was alive when they were loading him in.”_

_“’_ The _survivor’?” he questioned, noticing the choice of words.  “As in one.  One guy.  Out of how many, exactly?”_

_The silence was too long, too tense for the answer to be anything but horrible.  Truthfully, Stilinski didn’t want to know at this point.  He knew how many people had lived in that house.  It was basically their entire extended family.  Just one death would be hard enough to get through, he knew.  He knew all too well…_

_“Nine.”_

 

He could definitely smell her.  It had been a while since they’d last seen each other in person, but there are just some scents that you never lose track of.  Like family. 

It was a couple of hours past midnight, the darkness of the night keeping him concealed from any insomniacs with wandering eyes as he made his way further into the forest.

Memories continued to assault him, every tree looking like a landmark in his eyes.  It was as if each one represented a different moment in his life, suddenly so clear and vivid in his mind when just days before he would have struggled to remember even the vaguest of details.  It brought a mix of both good and bad feelings, conflicting emotions that he wasn’t sure how to deal with.  So he kept moving forward, face a perfected mask that gave away nothing.

 

 _‘_ Derek Hale, please report to the principal’s office.’

_Derek looked up from his notebook, stopping halfway through a scribble of his name next to Kate’s.  He wasn’t expecting to be picked up early, and he couldn’t remember doing anything to merit a scolding from the principal.  Only slightly curious, he looked to his teacher before standing up._

_In high school, being called over the loudspeaker didn’t garner a roomful of ‘ooooh’s and ‘someone’s in trouble’s, but he could still feel at least a dozen eyes watch him as he gathered his things and quietly left._

_It was halfway down the hall when he felt a sudden surge of adrenaline, instincts kicking in, and he started paying attention to his senses.  He could smell the very distinct scents of smoke and ash, the kind that sticks on your skin and unforgivably remains in your hair for hours.  It was a little suffocating, even from this distance.  His parents had always lectured him about the dangers of fire – not just to their almost completely wooden house and its precarious location in the middle of the woods, but for their kind entirely._

_Then he heard the voices.  The principal’s was easy to spot, but the second voice was harder to place.  He had heard it before, maybe only once or twice at length, but the conversation soon gave the man’s identity away.  Derek had caught on right in the middle, intently listening to each word._

“…house, sheriff?”

“Yes, unfortunately.  Peter Hale’s currently under intensive care at the Beacon Hills Hospital.  We’re, uh, not exactly sure yet how he’s going to turn out.”

_At that point, Derek’s stomach was starting to plummet.  He had only ever lost control once on school grounds, back in his freshman year when he had stupidly gone and disobeyed his parents, choosing to try out for the lacrosse team despite all their warnings.  Yes, he had been raised to keep the wolf inside, but no, he wasn’t ready to try and control it during such a physical sport._

_But now, standing in the middle of the hall, hands reflexively balling into tight fists, he knew that pretty soon it wasn’t going to matter at all that it was still early in the day.  His restraint was slipping, anger creeping into his veins.  If anyone had dared tried to hurt his uncle…_

“Well, I hope he’s okay.”

“So do I.  We’ve contacted Laura up at her school, but as far as I know, if he doesn’t pull through, those two kids are the only ones left.”

_Only ones…_

_Derek didn’t know it was possible to stop an oncoming transformation so quickly.  Just like that, with those two words and all they implied, he had gone from angry to excruciatingly numb._

_His hands fell limp at his sides, the rest of the conversation fading out into background noise that was barely audible.  Despite his heightened vision, the lockers he had been intently staring at were blurring around the edges.  It was getting harder to breathe, the lingering smell of smoke making him feel almost completely smothered by it.  As if he were the one caught in a blazing fire, and not…_

_It was probably a bad idea, but he couldn’t shake the feeling.  A giant pit had opened in his stomach and it would probably never go away, but that didn’t stop him.  With shaking fingers, he pulled out his phone and dialed the number that had been reserved for moments when the house was empty, when he was alone, when no one was around to question the one thing that felt right._

_Kate didn’t answer._

_When he walked into the principal’s office moments later, he only just registered the pitying faces, the concerned eyes._

_“Derek,” the sheriff greeted solemnly, his mask of professionalism slipping at the sight of the expressionless teenager in front of him.  “I’m sorry to have to say this, but…”_

_Derek didn’t pay attention to the rest, didn’t even flinch.  He already knew.  Perhaps more than they did._

 

In a few minutes he had made it to the house, her scent lingering on the charred wood.  Of course she would have stopped by there at some point, even if there was close to nothing left.

It was hardly the impressive structure that it used to be, barely even resembling the place where he had been raised for more than half his life, surrounded by everyone he loved.  The fire had all but hollowed it out, leaving behind a vague silhouette of his home.

Her scent was strong, meaning she had been there fairly recently, but it was still being overpowered by the smell of ash which settled in his lungs and made him believe it would never really fade away.

He liked to think he left the area quickly because he still had to find her, to save her if needed, and not because it still hurt too much to be back.

 

_“Yes, Dad.  I’ll be home soon.”_

_Kate rolled her eyes, placing the receiver back on the hook and stepping out of the phone booth.  Her father was growing paranoid in his old age, forever believing she was going to get caught, but he was wrong.  She was an Argent daughter – destined to be a leader.  Her choices were the ones that mattered now, not his._

_It was a ridiculously satisfying feeling, knowing that she had gotten rid of an entire pack of monsters all on her own.  Well, almost an entire pack.  She was pretty sure a couple of pups were left standing, but they would be easy enough to pick off later on._

_Especially Derek._

_She smirked, sliding on her sunglasses and walking back to her car.  He had been so head-over-heels for her, so absurdly infatuated, that she knew her betrayal would crush him – probably for the rest of his life.  It was thrilling to think about, how in the future she would run into him and he’d still be the broken shell that she left him as.  Guilt-ridden and hollow.  Heartbroken.  Alone.  The best part was probably that he had known she was lying all along, had heard her heart stutter a dozen times when he’d thrown her off-guard with questions.  And yet he believed her words instead of his own instincts._

_It was such a shame; she had thrown out her old phone to cover her tracks – not like she believed the boy would ever admit to what they did together, and what it resulted in – so she had no idea if he had already tried contacting her.  She probably would’ve picked up, seen if she could spin one last beautiful lie by denying everything and pretending she cared._

_Oh well, there was nothing to be done about it now.  She had, after all, just said she’d be home soon.  There wasn’t much time to waste basking in her victory.  And frankly, she thought that was just entirely unprofessional._

_Of course, that didn’t stop her from parking a few blocks down from the high school, waiting until she saw the sheriff’s car pass by her for a second time with an extra passenger in the back seat._

_She knew he would be able to smell her, knew that however slow his mind was that he would figure it all out soon enough, and she let him.  She let him know what she had done, how proud of herself she was, and that she hadn’t stopped by to say goodbye or to gloat.  It was a warning._

_She’d be back, and that time, finally, it would really be for him._

_Some could call Kate Argent heartless, but she was doing the world a favor.  And when it came time to return to Beacon Hills and see her abused and abandoned toy once again, she would finish the job that she had started._

_She wasn’t sorry.  She had no remorse._

_After all, you just don’t apologize for saving innocent lives._

 

He wasn’t prepared for this.

Every awful, gruesome, terrible thought that had climbed its way inside his brain as he searched, plaguing him with every possible image of his world breaking down further, hadn’t prepared him for this moment.

Hadn’t prepared him for the way her eyes stared up at nothing, forever lifeless; the way she was naked, fresh from a transformation, every bruise and cut visible on her delicate skin; the way her lips were slightly parted, maybe in a gasp or a scream, never to open again and speak words of comfort or advice.  Or, perhaps the worst part, the way she had been cut in half – crudely, violently, ruthlessly, the intent smeared and splattered across the ground.

He wasn’t prepared for this.

But he picked up what he could and dragged them both back to the house, all the while thinking that every step was just another punishment for how badly he had messed up.  How everything was his fault.

How she hadn’t known that, and would never know just how guilty he was.

 

_“Keep in touch, okay?”_

_She had been on her way to her first class of the day when it happened.  When the world shifted beneath her, a new rush of power hitting her hard, unexpectedly.  She could feel the adrenaline pumping, hear the wolf howling within, and she knew.  Even before she pulled out the compact from her bag to check her eyes in disbelief, before she could feel the tug of a new bond between herself and her younger brother, before she sensed her uncle’s pain when he was miles away, she already knew._

_She was an Alpha._

_And she had planned to be the best one she could be, because no matter how unprepared she had been to take on the role, there was still one person out there who needed her to be strong._

_But how was she supposed to know that just a few years later, Derek would be the one pulling away from her at the airport, straining to go off and be on his own?_

_“I will,” he promised, accepting the hug she gave him but not quite returning it._

_That was how he had been ever since she made it back to Beacon Hills.  He had been impassive when she’d picked him up from the station, silent and stoic – much more so that she had ever expected from him.  When she had left to go to school just months beforehand, he had been a naïve and smiling child, so full of life and promise.  But that part of her brother was gone, not a trace of the boy she had helped raise left behind._

_“You better.”  A few moments passed before she dared to say, “You come home on holidays.”_

_“I will,” he repeated, adjusting the strap of the bag on his shoulder._

_“Your birthday included.”_

_“Okay.”_

_“And I am going to call you every single week, so you better answer your phone.”_

_He rolled his eyes._

_“Every week, Derek,” she instructed._

_“I’ll answer.”_

_She waved as he passed through security, wrapping her arms around herself once he disappeared from view.  Whatever he was dealing with – whatever he_ had _been dealing with for the past couple of years – it had aged him, much sooner than she ever would have wanted.  She could see it in his eyes when he thought she wasn’t looking, all the pain that crushed him for unknown reasons, demons that would always haunt him even after he escaped California._

_She had never asked, never wanted to be the one to bring it up.  He would tell her in his own way, on his own time._

_Until then, she’d just have to wait until he came back, taking care of their uncle and visiting him regardless of the coma.  Because no matter how much Derek changed, she still knew him.  Better than he knew himself._

_He’d be back.  And she’d always be there to welcome him home._

 

As he walked away from those two teenagers – the newly turned werewolf and his hyperactive human sidekick who apparently liked to know too much about other people’s business – he could hear them talking.  About him, about his family.  About why he was back in Beacon Hills.

They would probably go through dozens of conclusions before they came to the right one.  He wasn’t there to stir up trouble, or kill anyone, or bite unsuspecting teenagers.  He might care later on about how the new wolf turned out, but it hadn’t been on his to-do list when he drove into town the night before.

He was there because eight days went by and his sister never called.  Finding her had been the only priority.

And he had done just that.

The question now was why he was staying in Beacon Hills, and that was an entirely different story – one that just might involve those two, whether they liked it or not.  Now, he had to find who had murdered her, who had taken all hope he had left for his family and ripped it away.

Because the kid was completely wrong.  It hadn’t been ten years ago that he had lost it all, or even when the fire had happened.

His family was gone the moment Laura Hale died.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [Kim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SouriantEscroc/pseuds/SouriantEscroc) who beta'd and kept me calm during the backlash of feels that writing Derek always seems to bring me.


End file.
